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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Haven't read all the posts - just responding to the OP, so forgive me if this is a duplicate.

We lived in Germany from 2003-2006. Prior to our move, my husband got a Pimsleur language CD from the library and listed to it in the car on his way to and from work. (I also used the lessons, but much less. I work at home!) He had quite a good command of conversational German by the time we actually moved.

Pimsleur is based on listening only, so is quite good for conversation. There is lots of repetition, so by the end of a level, you know it pretty well. (I am a visual learner, so I missed the written component, but it works really well for aural learners.)

I'd also like to mention that you will find many English speakers in big cities, and among college graduates (especially younger ones). There is a huge population who does not speak English, though, or speaks it like I speak my two years of high school Spanish from 35 years ago. You should be fine in hotels, tourist sites, and many restaurants. Asking a random stranger on the street where the bathroom is, or where the train station is, may or may not work. I spent 40 minutes in a grocery store once, trying to get someone who could understand me well enough to tell me where to find coffee cream. (Which happens to be a shelf-stable item in Germany, and is kept next to the coffee, which is why my forays up and down the dairy aisle were not productive.)

Some German speak English, some not. But there is a tendency to use Anglicism in German, particularly in advertisements. Researchers found out that this "Denglisch" in ads is liked, but misunderstood. Some examples:

Feel the difference (Ford): Fühle das Differenzial (feel the differential gear)Powered by Emotion (SAT 1 TV): Kraft durch Freude (ouch, a Nazi slogan)Come in and find out: Komm rein und finde wieder heraus (come in and find the exit)Drive alive (Mitsubishi): Überlebe die Fahrt (survive the ride)But Denglisch is good for English speaking tourists: everywhere you see "service points", "customer center", "sale" and so on. There is a "Verein Deutsche Sprache" wich awards the prize for "Sprachpanscher" of the year.

Gregor

Last time I was in a McDonalds in Bremen, I asked the clerk how they said "to go" in German. Do you say "zu spazieren?" I asked, trying to look innocent. He had no sense of humor, and said sternly: "Nein, wir sagen zu Mitnehmen!" German humor should not be laughed at!

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Some men are music lovers. Others make love without it.

My girl friend teaches German as a foreign language. She teaches people from nearly all countries of the world. She says that Loriot is obviously funny only for Germans. She showed her pupils some Loriot sketches, but most of them can´t laugh about it. Give it a try: how about you?

English is the lingua franca in most of Europe. I just got back from Rome where there were many non-native English speakers (for some reason there were a lot of Germans and Dutch there last week) using English to communicate with the locals.